255 become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ, and those are destroyed that destroyed the earth. The interpretation begins with the words, "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament:" and it continues to the end of the prophecy. The temple is the scene of the visions, and the visions in the temple relate to the feast of the seventh month: for the feasts of the Jews were typical of things to come. The Passover related to the first coming of Christ, and the feasts of the seventh month to his second coming: his first coming being therefore over before this prophecy was given, the feasts of the seventh month only are here alluded to. On the first day of that month, in the morning, the High Priest dressed the lamps; in allusion to which, this prophecy begins with a vision of one like the Son of Man in the High Priest's habit, appearing as it were in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, or over against the midst of them, dressing the lamps, which appeared like a rod of seven stars in his right hand: and this dressing was performed by the sending seven epistles to the angels or bishops of the seven churches of Asia, which in the primitive times illuminated the temple or catholic church. These epistles 256 contain admonitions against the approaching apostacy, and therefore relate to the times when the apostacy began to work strongly, and before it prevailed. It began to work in the apostles' days, and was to continue working till the man of sin should be revealed." It began to work in the disciples of Simon, Menander, Carpocrates, Cerinthus, and such sorts of men as had imbibed the metaphysical phi C : So losophy of the Gentiles and Cabalistical Jews, and were thence called Gnosticks. John calls them Antichrists, saying that in his days there were many Antichrists. But these being condemned by the apostles and their immediate disciples, put the churches in no danger during the opening of the first four seals. The visions at the opening of these seals relate only to the civil affairs of the heathen Roman Empire. long the apostolic traditions prevailed, and preserved the church in its purity and therefore the affairs of the church do not begin to be considered in this prophecy before the opening of the fifth seal. She began then to decline, and to want admonitions; and therefore is admonished by these epistles, till the apostacy prevailed and took place, which was at the opening of the seventh seal. The admonitions therefore in these seven epistles relate to the state of the church in the times of the tifth and sixth seals. At the opening of the fifth seal, the 257 church is purged from hypocrites by a great persecution. At the opening of the sixth, that which letted is taken out of the way; namely, the heathen Roman empire. At the opening of the seventh, the man of sin is revealed. And to these times the seven epistles relate. The seven angels, to whom these epistles were written, answer to the seven Amarc-holim, who were priests and chief officers of the temple, and had jointly the keys of the gates of the temple, with those of the treasuries, and the direction, appointment, and oversight of all things in the temple. CHAPTER IV. After the lamps were dressed, John saw the door of the temple opened; and by the voice as it were of a trumpet," was called up to the eastern gate of the great court, to see the visions: "and behold a throne was set," viz. the mercy-seat upon the ark of the Testament, which the Jews respected as the throne of God between the cherubims, And he that sat on it was to look upon like jasper and sardine stone,"a that is, of an olive color, which is the complexion of the people of Judea; and, the sun being then in the east, a rainbow was about the throne," the emblem of glory. "And round about the throne were were four and twenty seats;" answering to the chambers of the four and twenty princes of the priests, twelve on the 258 south side, and twelve on the north side of the priests' court. And upon the seats were four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in 'white raiment, with crowns on their heads;" representing the princes of the four and twenty courses of the priests clothed in linen. "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings, and voices," viz. the flashes of fire upon the altar at the morning sacrifice, and the thundering voices of those that sounded the trumpets, and sung at the eastern gate of the priests' court; for these being between John and the throne appeared to him as proceeding from the throne. "And there were seven lamps of fire burning, [in the temple,] before the throne, which are 'the seven spirits of God," or angels of the seven churches, represented in the beginning of this prophecy by seven stars. "And before ⚫ the throne was a sea of glass clear as chrystal;" the brazen sea between the porch of the temple and the altar, filled with clear water. "And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were 'four beasts full of eyes before and behind;" that is, one beast before the throne and one behind it, appearing to John as in the midst of the throne, and one on either side in the circle about it, to represent by the multitude of their eyes the people standing in the four sides of the peoples' court. "And the first 'beast was like a lion, and the 'second was like a calf, and the 259 third had the face of a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle." The people of Israel in the wilderness encamped round about the tabernacle, and on the east side were three tribes under the standard of Judah, on the west were three tribes under the standard of Ephraim, on the south were three tribes under the standard of Reuben, and on the north were three tribes under the standard of Dan; b and the standard of Judah was a lion, that of Ephraim an ox, that of Reuben a man, and that of Dan an eagle, as the Jews affirm; whence were framed the hieroglyphics of cherubim and seraphim, to represent the people of Ísrael. The cherubim had one body with four faces, (the faces of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle,) looking to the four winds of heaven, without turning about; c and four seraphs had the same four faces with four bodies, one face to every body. The four beasts are therefore four seraphs standing in the four sides of the people's court; the first in the eastern side with the head of a lion, the second in the western side with the head of an ox, the third in the southern side with the head of a man, the fourth in the northern side with the head of an eagle: and all four signify together the twelve tribes of Israel, out of whom the 144,000 were sealed. d And the 260 'four beasts had each of them six a Exod. xxv, 2; Ps. xcix, 1. b Numbers ii. c Ezek. i. d Rev. vii, 4. : wings," two to a tribe, in all twenty-four wings, answering to the twenty-four stations of the " and they were full of people ; or under their eyes within," wings. "And they rest not day and night,” or at the morning or evening sacrifices," saying, holy, 'holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to ' come." These animals are therefore the seraphim, which appeared to Isaiah in a vision like this of the Apocalypse: for there also the Lord sat upon a throne in the temple; and the seraphim each with six wings cried, "Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts," e " And when those animals give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the the temple, and there] fall down 'before him that sitteth on the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, · O Lord, to receive glory and honor At ́ and power: for thou hast created 'all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." the morning and evening sacrifices, so soon as the sacrifices was laid upon the altar, and the drink-offering began to be poured out, the trumpets sounded, and the Levites and 261 sang by course three times; every time, when the trumpets sounded, the people fell down and worshiped. Three times therefore did the people worship; to express which number, the beasts cry, Holy, holy, holy: and the song being ended, the people prayed standing, till the solemnity was finished. In the mean time the priests went into the temple, and there fell down before him, that sat upon the throne, and worshiped. CHAPTER V. "And John saw, in the right hand of him that sat ' upon the throne, a book written ' within and on the backside, sealed 'with seven seals," viz. the book which Daniel was commanded to seal up, and which is here represented by the prophetic book of the Law laid up, on the right side of the ark, as it were in the right hand of him that sat on the throne: for the festivals and ceremonies of the Law, prescribed to the people in this book, adumbrated those things which were predicted in the book of Daniel : and the writing within and on the backside of this book relates to the synchronal prophecies. "And none was found worthy to open the " And book but the Lamb of God.” lo, in the midst of the throne and ' of God sent forth into all the earth. 262 e Is. vi, 3. 263 these christians in their churches is here represented under the form of worshiping God and the Lamb in the temple: God for his benefaction in creating all things, and the Lamb for his benefaction in redeeming us with his blood: God as sitting upon the throne and living for ever, and the Lamb as exalted above all by the merits of his death. "And I heard (saith John) the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to re'ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, ' and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, ' and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, honor, glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 'Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth for ever and ever." This was the worship of primitive christians. It was the custom for the High Priest, seven days before the fast of the seventh month, to continue constantly in the temple, and study the book of the Law, that he might be perfect in it against the day of expiation; wherein the service, which was various and intricate, was wholly to be performed by himself; and part of which service was, reading the Law to the people and to promote his studying it, there were certain priests appointed by the Sanhedrim to be with him those seven days in one of his chambers in the temple, and there to discourse with him about the Law, and read it to him, and : put him in mind of reading and CHAPTER VIII. The seventh seal silence in heaven for half an hour." censer; and there was given him 266. and cast it into the earth;" that is, by the hands of the priests who belong to his mystical body, he cast it to the earth without the temple, for burning the goat which was the Lord's lot. And at this and other concomitant sacrifices, until the evening sacrifice was ended, "there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake." that is, the voice of the High Priest reading the Law to the people, and other voices and thunderings from the trumpets and temple music at the sacrifices, and lightnings from the fire of the altar. The solemnity of the day of expiation being finished, the seven angels sound their trumpets at the great sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of tabernacle; and at the same sacrifices, the seven thunders utter their voices, which are the music of the temple, and singing of the Levites, intermixed with the soundings of the trumpets: and the seven angels pour out their vials of wrath which are the drink offerings of those sacrifices. the day of expiation all the people of Israel are sealed up in the books of life and death. f For the Jews in their Talmud tell us, that in the beginning of every new year, or first day of the month Tisri, the seventh month of the sacred year, three books are opened in judgement; the book of life, in which the names of those are written who are perfectly just; the book of death, in which the names of those are written who are atheists or very wicked; and a third book of those whose judgement is suspended till the day of expiation, and whose names are not written in the book of life or death before that day. The first ten days of this month they call the penitential days; and all these days they fast and pray very much, and are very devout, that on the tenth day their sins may be remitted, and their names may be written in the book of life; which 267 day is therefore called the day of expiation. And upon this tenth day, in returning home from the synagogues, they say to one another, "God the Creator seal you to a And af-good year." For they conceive that the books are now sealed up, and that the sentence of God remains unchanged henceforward to the end of the year. The same thing is signified by the two goats, upon whose foreheads the High Priest yearly, on the day of expiation, lays the two lots inscribed, for God and for Azazel; God's lot signifying the people, who are sealed with the name of God in their foreheads; and the lot Azazel, which was sent into the wilderness, representing those who receive the mark and the name of the beast, and go into the wilderness with the great whore. CHAPTER VII. When six of the seals were opened, John said: “And after these things," that is, after the visions of the sixth seal, "I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried ' with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." This sealing alludes to a tradition of the Jews, that upon The servants of God, being there f Buxtorf in Synagoga Judaica, c. xviii, 21. |